Panel approves gradual hike in state minimum wage

Published 2:36 pm, Thursday, December 1, 2016

A legislative panel on Thursday issued a report supporting a gradual, multi-year increase of the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

A legislative panel on Thursday issued a report supporting a gradual, multi-year increase of the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Photo: Staci Vandagriff / Associated Press

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Under a proposal by the Connecticut General Assembly’s Low Wage Advisory Board, the current $9.60-per-hour minimum wage would increase gradually to $15.

Under a proposal by the Connecticut General Assembly’s Low Wage Advisory Board, the current $9.60-per-hour minimum wage would increase gradually to $15.

Photo: Peter Pereira / Associated Press

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Department store workers currently making the minimum wage of $9.60 per hour, will see a hike to $10.10 on January 1. A legislative panel on Thursday recommended a gradual increase to $15.

Department store workers currently making the minimum wage of $9.60 per hour, will see a hike to $10.10 on January 1. A legislative panel on Thursday recommended a gradual increase to $15.

Photo: Gunnar Rathbun / Associated Press

Panel approves gradual hike in state minimum wage

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A legislative committee that studied Connecticut’s low earners on Thursday released a report recommending a gradual increase in the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour.

The Low Wage Advisory Board, which held public hearings attended by 300 people, said that many in the state are struggling to meet the cost of basic needs, including housing, food and child care.

During an afternoon news conference in the Capitol complex, James Bhandary-Alexander, co-chairman of the board, said that most members of the panel approved the eventual hike to $15 from the current $9.60, which riases to $10.10 per hour on January 1.

“A substantial majority of the board found that that is a good idea and is desparately needed for low-wage workers in this state to try to catch up and to try to have a standard of living that places them, if not out of poverty, closer to that,” said Alexander, a staff attorney at New Haven Legal Assistance, Inc. “One of the central things that united, I think I can say everybody on the board, was a concern that people who work fulltime should not be living in poverty.”